Greetings!

Welcome to the brave new marketing world of "No Call List" realities. And, to make this more interesting, it is now also a world of consumers who think their names are automatically on the no call list and do not want to be called. This poses consistently greater challenges for marketers. Due to all of these challenges, this special edition newsletter is for those of you who are seeking extra knowledge and direction for your marketing plans.

First, you can rest easy. All of the major list brokers are honoring the no call list, regardless of what happens as the courts examine and re-examine the legalities of no call. At ArtsMarket, we provide our list customers with detailed background information allowing you to reference our policies and rules if at any time someone claims they were on the no-call list. We typically purchase lists for unlimited use over a one year duration from the date of purchase. (Only a few of our clients ever want one time use of a list - the real value comes in repeat working of a list.) If a person requests being added to the do not call list after the date of your list purchase, you will obviously not know it. And, as most of you are marketers for nonprofit institutions, you technically do not need to be worried by this, as nonprofits are exempt from the new rulings. It does help, however, to be in the driver's seat, equipped with clear answers for any grumpy customers.

The Impact On Telemarketing - It Still Works!

If you have ordered a list with phone numbers more than six months ago and you plan to use it yet this year for telemarketing, you might do well to order a new list now rather than wait until your typical full year of use is up. Why? Many individuals have rushed to get on the "Do Not Call" lists during the past quarter. Even though it is perfectly legal for your nonprofit to call them, none of us are able to gauge the potential anger from people who think they should not be called. If you plan to order a new list in the next quarter anyway and are making cold calls from your old list now, consider ordering new names soon. You will sleep better.

With a clean list and a sizable budget, telemarketing still works. In fact, "Do Not Call" almost acts as a screener for you: now, with a fresh list, you will only reach households that want to accept calls. Returns for overall telemarketing is at 7.44 percent, with nonprofit fundraising responses, on average, pulling in a whopping 19.4 percent. Again, these type of returns come when all of the stars are aligned: the right ask, the right phone voice, the right price points and a very, very high-quality list. We have been developing extremely targeted lists for telephone fundraising, and they work! Develop a passionate ask - a passionate call to action - and you will see a great return on your investment.

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Power of Direct Marketing

The good news here is that prospecting lists are also getting better and bigger than ever. We recently compared list companies for one of our clients: a broker we had worked with before could only deliver 1,000 qualified arts attendee households in our clients' market, while a new broker was able to secure 12,000 qualified households. We are using multiple layers of screening to find absolutely prime prospects. Development officers are asking us to cross-screen, for example, to select high income households representing certain clusters, including charitable giving history, arts attendance and arts participation (i.e. taking art classes.) We sometimes take the screening to even higher and more detailed levels by considering, for example, subscriptions to certain magazines, specific hobby interests such as photography, and the amount spent per household on leisure activities.

What this means for you is that you can have high levels of confidence in obtaining good rates of return from direct mail. When you then mine the list repeatedly throughout the year, your impact will continue to grow. That is why it is important to plan your direct marketing budget to include enough repeat and special offer mailings to pick up customers who do not respond to the full season or early bird offers. Ideally, you are including as much personalization and customization of pitch-to-target as possible.

We also continue to offer rapid-turnaround merge- purge with your existing databases. And, as you find it necessary, we are able to conduct a quick re-analysis of the geography and/or clusters and demographics you are trying to reach, where you have made progress from your direct marketing over the past couple of years, and where you have new pockets of opportunity. Sometimes we are able to deliver this analysis in less than a week, depending on our project volume, but it helps to have advance warning.

You can also turn to us to do a routine clean of your house list. Recently, one of our research/database clients asked us to do a merge-purge of their house list against a new list we helped them purchase. As we were doing the merge, we saw that the addresses of many of the pieces of mail they normally send out are not reaching real households. For example, they may have mailed a piece to 101 Front Street, but the actual Post Office address was 101 Front Avenue. By making the changes - a service we provide for a minimal fee - our client will be able to ensure that each piece of mail they send actually arrives at the desired location.

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Does E-Mail Replace Snail Mail?

No. It expands direct marketing. Every institution that has developed a really first-rate e-mail system has benefited greatly, and the results can be dramatic in building participation and loyalty. (E-mail works wonders for instant ticket sales: the trick is to make it truly instant!) But e-mail is still too volatile to use as a stand alone replacement for direct mail. E-mail addresses change so rapidly, and there is still no way to track "change of address" in order to keep up with valued customers. Expect major progress on this problem within the next 12 months, but at this writing, it is still an imperfect system. But, there is a silver lining. Use e-mail to build your direct mail list and you will have wonderfully qualified new households to mail to. You also can easily obtain key information through on-line surveying that can be required for people to receive your e-mails. If you are looking for a great email system, contact us. We will help you sort through your options.

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What Is The Value Of Web Marketing?

In a word, vast. Be sure your arts web presence is truly marketing, not only information sharing. That is difficult for most of us, but essential when you are reaching savvy consumers. Our field still relies heavily on calendars, visitor information, and descriptives over calls to action. And, as a field we are hooked on cool- looking, but hard-to-navigate sites - eight point yellow type on black background, pulsing in and out of focus can take three minutes for a page to load on most home computers. If you are considering upgrading your Website, think about it from your audience's perspective: · Make it easy. · Make it sales-oriented. · Link to ticketing. · And do not forget the basics. We recently did a search of about 25 performing arts center Websites throughout the US. At least half forgot to mention their institutions' street addresses (or cities, for that matter), their phone number, physical box office information, or other essential information. The moving images were fabulous, and the designs were dazzling. But would you send out a season ticket brochure without an order form? Do a Website inventory to make sure key sales and contact information is not missing or hidden on your site!

The Basics of Marketing- In the past couple of budget-crisis years, many of the key investments marketers need for success have been postponed. Do not let your institution be pound wise and penny foolish. Can your organization afford to NOT invest in a comprehensive ticketing system that captures all household names when it is contemplating a build-up to a capital campaign? This is the precise time to be able to reach and build loyalty among all those unknown visitors. Can your organization stall on eliminating the "voice loop from hell" when trying to make it consistently easy for people to connect to box office, school programs, membership, or programs? As customers demand more instant service, this old- fashioned "portal" to your institution is more important than ever.

We Are Here- Stay in touch with us. Share your successes and the trends you see. Ask for counsel. Let us share information with you about the increasing precision and capacity of all lists. Despite market challenges, many of you are seeing consistent increases and successes by working strategically, year after year. Do you want to receive periodic newsletters with more updates and tips? Contact me via email and let me know what subjects you would like us to cover. I look forward to hearing from you! And, by the way, check out the recent press clippings on our Website. We have won a major award for work with one of our clients, and have been featured in stories about a number of your organizations. Let us know what you think.

Louise K. Stevens - President - ArtsMarket, Inc. Note Our New Street Address: ArtsMarket, Inc. - 1125 W. Kagy Boulevard - Suite 100 - Bozeman, MT 59715

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